seeing there is no salvation out of the Catholike Church what assurance could I have of my salvation if I did not beleeve that there is a Catholike Church How can I beleeve my selfe to be a member of that Body which I doe not beleeve to bee For this Holy Catholike Church is the number of all those whō God hath Predestinated and Elected and though the Catholike Church may have in it errours and perhaps Heresies yet the Holy Catholike Church can have none in it but Orthodoxe and true beleevers For it is as the Arke of Noah to save all that beleeve the comming of the Flood but unbeleevers are all excluded from entring into it It is as the Corporation of the Citizens of the New Hierusalem in which whose names are not Enrolled and none are Enrolled that beleeve not they can bee no partakers of the Heavenly Priviledges of which Salvation is the chiefest If there were not a Holy Cathotholike Church then Christ should be a Shepherd without a Flocke then God the Father should bee a King without a People then the Holy Ghost should bee a guide and have none to lead but the Two first of these are assured us by Christ where he saith Feare not little Flock For it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome and the last where hee saith Hee will send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth Therefore there is an Holy Catholike Church which he that beleeves not is not of it and not being of it can have no hope of salvation by it To be Holy and Catholike are indeed the proper Caracters of a Christian Church the first representation whereof was then when at Pentecost there met at Hierusalem of all Nations under heaven Parthyans and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea in Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and in the parts of Lybia and sirangers of Rome Jewes and Proselites Creetes and Arabians For here was no bounding within Canaan no bounding within Africa but the Church was made apparent by plurality of Nations to bee Catholike and by visible graces to be Holy This Church therefore I beleeve to be holy yet not holy in perfection but tending to perfection and justly called holy for its Inchoation and I beleeve it to bee Catholike but Catholike in doctrine not in discipline and therefore the rule of it as concerning doctrine is this Quod ab omnibus Quod ubique Quod semper For if it be not ab Omnibus It is not Catholike in Persons if not Vbique not Catholike in place if not Semper not Catholike in time and all these must concurre to make the Church be Catholik in Doctrin In Discipline not so for there neither ab omnibus nor ubique nor semper is required but it may be various and diverse according to the diversity of Time and Place and yet in doctrine bee the Catholike Church For Discipline is but onely Ecclesiasticall where Doctrine is divine This Article bindes my beliefe to no particular Church as it is a particular but as it is a Member of the Catholike For take it by it selfe without considering it as a Member of the Catholike Church and it is not so properly a Church as a Conventicle which though I cannot deny but it may be Holy at least in a Morall holinesse yet I can deny that I am bound to beleeve it to be holy because I am bound to beleeve no true holinesse to bee out of the Catholike Church This Catholike Church is a Schoole of instruction to teach us as much as we are bound to know and a Rule of direction to informe us as much as wee are bound to beleeve if it were but onely what Saint Thomas saith this might make us doubt of Christs resurrection or if it were but onely what Saint Peter saith this might make us incline to comply with the Jewes but when it is that which all the Apostles with one consent say this is the voice of the Catholike Church and can never make us to goe astray And therfore to this Church I submit all my faculties both my understanding to her decrees and my will to her counsels and make account that if I know any thing and not of her instruction it will prove but falsehood if doe any thing and not by her direction it will prove but folly For this that Spouse of Christ of which it is said Thou art all faire and there is no spot in thee Oh then let not me beginne to make any spot in the face of thy Spouse O Lord but so purge me with Hysope that though I be not pure yet I may bee cleane at least not so foule to defile others nor deserve with Miriam to be put out of the campe of thy Militant Church but may come to thy Triumphant As therefore this Article is the first of all we have to beleeve so let it have the honor that is due to the first and have the highest place in our beliefe For indeed all the Articles that follow are but as flowres that grow in the garden of this Catholike Church The Communion of Saints as the flowre of Charitie The forgivenesse of sinnes as the flowre of Faith The resurrection of the body as the flowre of Hope and the life everlasting as the flowre of reward if I may not rather say as the whole nosegay of all the other flowres together seeing in this they have all their smels united into one fragrant odour Charity raised to perfection Faith turned into love and Hope into enjoying But what should be the cause why amongst these Articles that are to be beleeved there is no mention at all made of the Scriptures For seeing we are commanded to search the Scriptures No doubt it is required wee should beleeve the Scriptures and if we should beleeve them why are they left out in the Article of our beliefe Is it not that these were Articles of Beliefe for a Christian man before any Gospell of Christ was written and how then could they have any place in the Creed when they had not as yet any being in the world For the life and doctrine of Christ was published by word before it was recorded by writing and the Apostles preached it before the Evangelists writ it and this Creede being a Breviate and summe of that which was preached who can tell but it may bee more antient then that which is written at least being the substance of them both what more is it to beleeve the Scripture then the Creed And then what neede is there to have them named when they are exprest And as for the words of Christ Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures or yee search the Scriptures if we extend them no further then Christ spake them we may be farre enough off from beleeving the Gospel For Christ spake then but of the Olde Testament and not of the New which at that time was none For
last day And in another place This is the Will of him that sent mee that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day And now if we be satisfied of his Will shall we fall back againe into a relapse of doubting his Power But alas is it any hard matter for God to make the same body again which hee had made once before Or is it harder for him to make a Body the same it was before then it was to make it at first when it was not at all Is it not easier for God to make a Body out of something then it was at first to make it out of nothing Is it any hard matter for God to reduce all Bodies to their first Elements and then to mixe and compound them againe as he did at first When our Bodies were first made they were made but of dust and when they are dead they shall but be turned into dust and cannot God take the same dust to make the same body againe as well now as hee did then What though it bee scattered about in a thousand places is distance of place any thing to God who is equally in all places at once Is it hard for God to know which is the proper dust of every particular Body and to give to every one their own dust whose knowledge extends to count the just number of the sand and to call all the stars of Heaven by their names Is there any dust upon the Earth any mote in the Sun which God hath not made And if hee have made them all by his power shall he not dispose of them all at his pleasure If by onely saying Congregentur Aquae God made the great Ocean which we cannot look upon without wonder Can he not as well by onely saying Congregetur Pulvis make the dust of all Bodies come together again that every Body may be the very same Bodie it was before Say a Body be devoured of Beasts be eaten of Fishes so as by digestion it become a part of their Bodies say it suffer never so many alterations yet all those alterations shall be resolved at last into the same dust it was at first and cannot God of the same dust make the same Body againe as well now as he did before God of nothing made the dust of the Earth and of that dust the Body of man and though the dust which was made of nothing shall returne againe to nothing yet the Body of man that was made of dust shall never returne to lesse then dust and to so little should never have returned neither if God for mans transgression had not denounced against him Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris If then Gods saying Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne have been the cause of the Bodies returning to dust why shall not his saying A Body thou art and a Body thou shalt rise againe be as well a cause of the Resurrection of the body And now if we be satisfied of his power shall wee fall back againe into a relapse of doubting his Will But why did God make the Body of man of dust where he made the bodies of Beasts of nothing but because the bodies of Beasts shall returne againe to nothing where the Body of man shall never returne but into dust that out of that dust it may rise againe to be the same Body it was before Why did God make the Body of man himselfe where he commanded the Earth to bring forth the Bodies of other Creatures but because he meant it a further preservation then hee meant other creatures and what further preservation if the body did not rise againe And if now againe we bee satisfied of his Will shall wee fall backe into another relapse of doubting his power Cannot God doe as much upon a sudden as Nature can doe with Time Though Nature must have nine Moneths lying in the Mothers wombe before it can make a mans Body perfit yet God made Adam a perfect Body in an Instant and could he transcend Nature then and can he not now Is he growne to bee as impotent as Nature able to doe no more then what naturally may be done What though the world doubt it and Sadducees deny it shall we rather assent to them then say with Job Though wormes destroy this Body yet I shall see God in my Flesh And if see God in his Flesh then must his Body rise againe that hee may have Eyes to see him And as these be some reasons of many to shew that the Resurrection of the body may be So there are other reasons as strong to shew that it shall and must be When Moses met Christ on the Mount how came hee by his Body againe which had beene dead and buried many hundred yeares before How came those men by their bodies againe who having beene dead and buried arose at the time of Christs rising and appeared unto many in the Holy Citie When Christ at the last day shall say Venite Benedicti Patris Come yee Blessed of my Father hee shal not say it to the soule alone nor to the body alone but to the whole man and if to the whole man then must the body bee joyned to the soule againe that it may be a whole man but no such conjunction if no Resurrection of the Body Is not Christ our head and we his members and if hee Ascended up to Heaven in body and soule must not we that are his members doe the like But no such Ascension if no Resurrection of the body Hath not Christ promised That wee shall sit with him at his Table and eate and drinke with him in his Fathers Kingdome But no such Eating and Drinking if no Resurrection of the Body When Christ in the Gospel meant to confute the Sadducees denying the Resurrection hee used this Argument Have ye not read what God said to Moses in the Bush I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob God is not the God of the dead but of the living and with this Argument he put them to silence But how their Errour is confuted by this Argument or how this Argument proves the Resurrection of the Body is not easie to bee perceived It seemes the Argument is not so much ad Rem as ad Hominem though it prove not directly the Resurrection of the body yet it proves it sufficiently against the Sadduces who therefore denyed the Resurrection of the body because they beleeved not the immortality of the soule and this Argument proving directly the immortality of the soule proves sufficiently against them the Resurrection of the body Or is it perhaps meant thus God is the God of Abraham but Abraham is not the soule onely but the whole man and therefore the Body of Abraham though now dead must of necessity bee raised to life againe seeing God is not the God
of the dead but of the living Indeed all Morall reasons that can be brought to prove the Immortalitie of the soule may serve as well to prove the Resurrection of the body For if there bee reward for the godly in another life certainely that reward shall not bee to the soule onely but as well to the bodie and if to the body then must the body of necessity rise againe that it may be capable to receive the reward But what capacitie as long as it is lying in the dust And as this reason is of force to prove the Resurrection of the body in the godly so the punishment due to sinne makes it of no lesse force to prove it in the wicked All that hath been said and all that can be said in this matter are as so many links that may be made into a chaine and will necessarily draw us on to this beliefe For will you except against the body that it is not worthy to bee raised from the dead Or will yee except against God that he is not able to raise it from the dead Or will yee except against the cause that it ought not to bee raised from the dead and when all these Exceptions are proved unjust what doubt can there bee of its rising from the dead For first is not the body worthy to rise againe which is Vagina afflatus Divini the receptacle and sheath as it were of the Divine breath and is not our Flesh as one cals it soror Christi the sister of Christ that if of it self it be not at least by this Consanguinitie it is most worthy Is not God able to raise it againe out of dust who at first made it of dust and dust of nothing Is there not just cause it should be raised againe indeed so just that it is of necessitie if God be just For if the body be not raised again how can it appeare in judgement And if it appeare not in judgement how can it receive the sentence of Absolution or Condemnation and if it receive not such sentence how can it be Punished or Rewarded and if it be not Punished or Rewarded how can God bee just that neither punisheth nor rewardeth the good or evill it hath done in this life And seeing God is most Just even Justice it se fe It followes of necessitie that the Body shall be raised againe to life which though it be here made an Article of our Beliefe for the difficultie yet it falls within the compasse of our knowledge for the certainty To doubt of the Resurrection of the Body is to doubt as hath been said of either Gods Power or of his Will and to doubt of his Power is to make him no God and to doubt of his Will is to make him not good For how should he be good to destroy our Bodies which are Temples of the Holy Ghost if hee should not raise them up againe that they may bee Temples for his service O my soule let this be thy joy for the resurrection of thy Bodie Not that it shall rise againe to be sinneful flesh and bloud as now it is but that it shall rise to be a Temple for the Holy Ghost fitted to bee taken into the Quire of Angels to sing the praises of God and of his Christ for ever And indeed if I thought my Body should rise againe to bee in the state that now it is though with enjoying as much happinesse as the world can affoord yet I would make it my humble suit to God rather to let it lye in the dust still then to raise it up to such a life For alas O Lord what do the pleasures of the World but distract mee from thee and what is my hope but to enjoy thy presence What is the World but a barre to keepe thee from me and what contentment can I have while I am without thee No my soule thou shouldst do most unkindly to wish my Bodies rising againe if it were not to bee with God and to serve him as a Temple of his glorie For without this no Resurrection of the body shall be welcome to me Alas not so good as lying quickly in the dust But if it were meant that our Bodies indeed should rise againe and be the same hereafter as now they are why would God suffer them to dye at all and not rather continue them alive still For so hee might have saved himselfe the trouble of new making them and us the misery of so long missing them But now seeing the soule hath beene without its body so many hundred yeares already and is like to bee without it God knowes how many hundred yeares more why may it not be contented to be without it altogether and never stand expecting this impossible Resurrection But O my soule how vaine are these thoughts For what are we that we should enter into Gods secrets as though wee could comprehend that which is Incomprehensible and search out that which is Unsearchable As for Gods suffering the bodie to die and not continuing it alive still who sees not the reason that knowes the sentence pronounced by God upon Adams transgression And as for the Soules wanting the Body so long who can thinke it long that considers Eternity If we did but know or would but consider the admirable wonderfulnesse of the frame of Mans body we would much more wonder at the Formation of it then at the Resurrection of it and David shewed himselfe well seene in Anatomie when he said I am wonderfully and fearefully made Fearefully made indeed For hee that should looke into the frame of Mans body and see upon what wonderfull tickle points our life stands might well be afraid it were not possible wee could live one minute If then we see before our eyes the great wonderfulnesse of the formation of the body why should we doubt of the lesse wonderfulnesse the Resurrection of the body There is a place in one of Davids Psalmes where he saith The Lord keepeth the bones of the just one of them shall not bee consumed from which place the Jewes conceive an opinion that In Spina dorsi in the ridge of a mans backe there is a little bone which will never decay how long soever it lye in the earth and this little bone to be as it were Semen Resurrecturi Corporis the seed out of which the Body shall rise againe and as God made Eve of onely a bone of Adam yet of that bone he made her bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh So of this little backe bone God will raise the Body againe to bee the same bones and flesh it was before But what need we looke after any such bone when the least crumme of dust is Seed sufficient for God to raise it up the same body it was before And indeed we have surer ground for our beliefe then Jewish Fables For if wee Beleeve that Christ is risen from the dead we cannot doubt of our owne
rising seeing hee therefore did rise that hee might be Primitiae resurgentium The first fruits of them that rise but the first Fruits he could not be if others did not rise as well as hee And therefore having beleeved in an Article before that Christ rose from the dead this Article of our own rising is but Ex Abundanti more then needed but that the difficulty of beleeving it requires as it were a double Buttresse to strengthen our Faith There are some perhaps that look for Naturall reasons to prove Demonstratively the Resurrection of the body but is not their expectation very unjust to expect Naturall reasons to prove a thing that is not Naturall If Naturall reasons could be given of it it should be fitter for the Metaphysicks then a Creed and as able to breed a Knowledge as Beliefe Our Reason onely helps us thus farre to make us know there is something left for Beliefe which Reason cannot reach to and of this nature is the Resurrection of the body our Beliefe shall then be turned into knowledge when we shall come to have experience of it in the meane time wee must content our selves with Beleeving it And O my Soule doe thou beleeve it indeed and be most assured that though thy Body leave thee for a time and bee laid in dust and bee turned to dust yet it will not bee long ere it shall rise and bee joyned with thee againe as now it is but in a far happier condition then now it is Not stubborne and restiffe then but tractable and obsequious not earthly and lumpish then but Aery and light and indeed such a body it shall be as thou wouldst wish it to be Not subject to diseases Not weary with labours Not itching with lust Not drowsie with sleep Not hungring after meat and which is most of all where now it takes upon it to be thy Master It shall then be content to be thy servant but such a servant as shall therefore serve thee because thou servest God For it is sowne a Naturall body it shall bee raised up a spirituall Body It is sowne in corruption it shall be raysed in incorruption the same body in substance that now it is but endued with Spirituall and better qualities Many questions are here moved by the Schoolmen as whether the bodies of Abortives which were never borne but dyed in their Mothers wombes shall be partakers of the Resurrection seeing though they never came to see the light yet they had beene once alive and quicke Then whether bodies shall arise of the same age and stature at which they died as Infants at the stature and age of Infants and others at their severall statures and ages Or else shall all rise at a perfect age and stature because of the words of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Till we all come unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnes of Christ Then whether bodies shall arise with the same deformities and defects which they had living as Crooked Lame Blinde or otherwise mutilation of Members seeing Christ arose with the same wounds which he received when his body was pierced with the Speare And many such questions moved more out of vaine curiosity then tending to Edification and which perhaps may probabably be argued as having coulours on both sides but can never directly be defined as having warrant on either side Reason may make conjectures of it but Faith will build no certainty on it It may bee sufficient for us to beleeve that the bodies of all men shall rise at the last day and stand at the Tribunall of Christ who shall come from Heaven to judge the Quick and the Dead And now having beleeved the two Articles that properly relate to the Sonne of God Christ Jesus the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Bodie It followes fitly to beleeve the Article that properly relates to God the Father The life Everlasting and it followes not onely fitly but very necessarily For if we should not adde the life Everlasting it might be thought that our Resurrection were but like theirs who rose at the time of Christs rising and appeared to many in the Holy City who rose indeede but then died againe at least who can tell what became of them and so our Beliefe should cast Anchor in a very unsafe harbour but now by adding the life Everlasting we make the Resurrection of our Bodies a perpetuity and beleeve they shall rise againe never any more to dy And indeed how can it be otherwise seeing there never was but one sentence of death denounced against man and that sentence once executed by his dying once there is no new sentence of dying any more and therefore the Body being beleeved to be raised from the dead the life Everlasting will bee beleeved of course Death indeede is a debt due to nature and a debt that nature lookes to have payd but yet nature is not so unjust to looke that a debt should be payd her more then once and therefore the body having payd the debt once by dying once if it can get to rise againe and live it will not be then in natures debt any more and therefore cannot naturally dy any more but shall live for ever But why is there no mention made in our Creed of the Immortality of the soule that of this poynt there might be left no scruple for as long as this is in sufpence wee shall necessarily fall into the errour of the Sadduces and never beleeve the Resurrection of the body Is it not that the Immortalitie of the soule is therefore not made an Article of our Creed because it is not so properly credible Per fidem as demonstrable per artem there being so apparent reasons for it that even the Heathen themselves have not denyed it and one of their owne Poets could say Parte tamen meliore mei super acta perennis Astra forar meaning his soule Besides what need is there of mentioning it when it is sufficiently intimated or included rather in these two last Articles For if we beleeve the resurrection of the body we cannot doubt of the Immortality of the soule seeing the body cannot rise without the soule and if we beleeve the life Everlasting we cannot but beleeve the soule to bee Immortall seeing without the soule there can be no life at all And now wee are come to the last Article of our Creed which may well bee the last seeing it brings us to that which is Everlasting And here it may not be unfit to examine a little the extent of this Everlasting life seeing it is not momentary and fading as our present life is but continuing and lasting without having any lâ—st that if we say it shall last a Thousand years if a million of thousand years if so many millions of thousand yeares as there are sands in the sea although an infinite incomprehensible extent of time yet wee shall
expresse but a very small part or rather indeed no part at all of it seeing of those how many soever yet they will have an end at last Everlastingnesse never It may best bee exprest by number In abstracto of which when never so many have bin preceding yet never the fewer will bee left behind O the wonderfulnesse of everlastingnesse enough to amaze our apprehension so wonderfull that when wee have wondred as much as we can wee may begin and wonder againe and he that shall stand wondring all his life long yet cannot be thought to have wondred enough Iustly therefore is it made an Article of our Creede seeing it exceeds our capacity it passeth our understanding it transcends our reason onely Faith is apprehensive of it And where is it then that this Everlasting life shall bee led Is it not that of the first thousand years we may perhaps give some account that it shall be led where wee shall reigne with Christ for so Saint John the Evangelist in plaine termes delivers it and Papias a Bishop and a Scholler of Saint Johns who was likely to have learned the meaning of his words affirmes more that it shall be led heere upon earth in all delights and pleasures both of body and minde and indeede most of the ancient Fathers of that Primitive time runne together by a line in this Exposition and yet by the later Fathers is this Opinion cleane exploded and the words of Saint John expounded in a farre differing sense and not without cause for seeing it is truely said that flesh and bloud shal not enter into the kingdom of heaven there is no likelihood that bodily or fleshly pleasures shall ever be allowed to have place in that kingdome Is it then that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth and then this life Everlasting shall be led And it is indeed most likely that as our bodies shall rise though in their old substance yet endued with new qualities So heaven and earth where they are to abide shall suffer the like alteration that so there may bee a correspondence between our bodies and them which could not be if the qualities of heaven and earth were not aswell altered as of our bodies But when is it that this life Everlasting shall beginne Indeed as soone as this momentary life shall end but yet but in part and therefore we beleeve the resurrection of the body first and then the life everlasting after because although the soule in its kind be living still yet till the body rise againe there will be no perfect life and it is not intended that our life should be everlasting in the imperfection of it which is the separation of the soule from the body but that the body rising againe and joyning with the soule it shall then bee everlasting And now my soule consider the difference of our future life from this that is present which shal be so much longer then this as eternity then a moment and so much better then this as happinesse then misery But wherein shall the happinesse of our future life consist For if bodily pleasures be restrained there will want a great part of that which wee now count happinesse Indeed bodily pleasures will be restained but not pleasures of the body but the body being raised up a spirituall body the pleasures also of the body shal be spirituall pleasures And how much the soul is better then the body how much the reason is better then the sense so much shall the pleasures of our future life bee better then the pleasures of our present life and if this doe not sufficiently expresse the difference Remember then how Christ hath exprest it that the pleasures of our future life shall bee such as neither eye hath seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man and by this certainely we may well conceive the infiniteness of the difference But what are these pleasures which eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard Indeed if wee could tell vvee should make Christs vvords but vaine yet in some sort perhaps vvee may conceive them For vvhat eye hath seene the faces of Cherubins in their brightnesse What eare hath heard the melody of Angels in their sweetnesse But which is most of all into what heart of man hath it entred what the glory of the Almighty God is and what joy it will be to us to be admitted into his blessed presence O my soule these are pleasures which if we could apprehend would drive us into extasie at least would raise up our minds from groveling in the base pleasures of this vaine world And who are they that shall bee partakers of this life Everlasting are they onely the godly or as well also the wicked Indeed as well the wicked as the godly but not the wicked so well as the godly For alas the wicked shall live everlastingly indeed if it may bee called life which is infinitely worse then any death to bee in perpetuall torment and paine insufferable Onely the godly shall live everlastingly the life which is onely worthy to bee called life in perpetuall joy and happinesse unspeakable Oh then if our lives shall necessarily bee everlasting and that the happinesse of the everlastingnesse depends upon this moment we now live Let us endeavour to spend our short time so that our everlastingnesse may be in joy and not in misery O my soule be alwaies thinking of this word Never Never shall the torments of the wicked have an end Never shall the joyes of the godly have an end not after a thousand yeares not after a million of yeares not after a million of millions of Ages but Never Never which if wee could apprehend or would but consider it would certainely be a Remora to us and give a stop to all our vaine courses And now having briefly run over these Articles of our Creed we may doe well to consider how happy the Church of God should be if it would content it selfe with these Articles as once it did For then the little Barke of Christ should not bee tossed with so many tempests of Schismes should not be torn with so many rents of Division as now it is but should enjoy the unity of faith in the bond of peace where now while new Articles are dayly obtruded upon our Consciences we seem to be in worse case with Articles of faith then the old Jewes were with the Ceremonies of the Law they overwhelmed with number we with novelty or rather indeed with both FINIS
MEDITATIONS AND Disquisitions UPON THE CREED BY Sr. RICHARD BAKER Knight LONDON Printed by IOHN DAVVSON for Francis Eglessield at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1646. TO THE GENEROVS and worthy of much honour THOMAS BAKER of FREZINGFIELD in the County of Suffolke ESQVIRE Most honoured Cosin IT is not the propinquity of bloud that is between us It is not the great Obligation in which I stand bound unto you which yet were causes of themselves sufficient but it is the generousnesse of your minde that make me desirous to consecrate something t◠the memory of your Name for thoug◠your owne vertue will preserve it sufficiently yet my affection is not satisfied without bearing a part in it that being my selfe but a whithered bough may expresse my joy in so flourishing branch of our Family as your selfe is And now I know not whether I ma◠account you young in regard of your fer yeares or Old in regard of your muc◠experience having spent Twelve year together a longer time then Vlysses in travelling over the most flourishing parts of Christendome where having spent your time in so noble 〈◊〉 manner as Report delivers you cannot chuse but be returned home Vir pau◠corum hominum more compleat in good parts then to have man Peeres But to leave this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having heretofore written Meditations upon the Lords Prayer J have now adventured to doe the like upon the Creede which Treatise as J Dedicate to your Name so my selfe to your Service and remaine Devoted to you in all true Love and Affection Richard Baker MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS Vpon the CREEDE IT seemes that in laying the Foundation of CHRISTS Church where many Proselytes were to be admitted this forme of Beliefe was first penned to the end that they which would be admitted into the Church should first professe the Beliefe of these Articles and these being beleeved were thought to bee sufficient to shew the professed Faith of an Orthodoxe Christian But whether the Apostles themselves were the Penners of it as some have thought or whether some other out of the Apostles Doctrine as the most conceive is not much materiall to be examined It is sufficient for us to know that it is received by a Generall consent of the whole Church And although the Article of Christs Descending into Hell hath for some time in some Churches not been received yet this is no more then hath befallen some parts of the holy Scripture it selfe For the Epistle to the Hebrewes and the Epistle of Saint Iude and some other now generally received have for some time in some Churches not beene admitted But howsoever former times have had some scruple about this Article yet wee must admit it now without scruple unlesse we will make scruple also to admit the Article of beleeving the Holy Catholike Church seeing the Holy Catholike Church hath long since admitted it into our Creede as an Article necessary to be beleeved of every Christian man And it seems to containe a Breviate of those things which of a Christian man are Credenda to be Beleeved as the Ten Commandements a Breviate of things that are Agenda to be done and the Lords Prayer a Breviat of things that are Oranda to be Prayed for which Three as they differ not much in the number of their Articles so they seeme to have a great coherence one with another For what wee Beleeve that wee have reason to doe and what we are to doe that we have just cause to Pray for to be enabled to doe That whilst our Beleeving is manifested by our doing and our doing prospered by our Praying The man of God may bee made perfect in every good worke If wee should doe as much as wee are commanded to doe and not beleeve as much as we are taught to beleeve that doing would doe us little good and if wee should beleeve as much as wee are taught to beleeve and not doe as much as wee are commanded to doe that beleeving would doe us lesse good Then onely will the benefit of both of them accrew unto us when Beleefe is joyned with Action and Faith with good Workes without which conjunction there may be Leaves but there will bee no Fruit. For if we should do the Commandements and not beleeve this Creed our Profession would want the Basis and if beleeve this Creede and not doe the Commandements it would want the Coronis And so these Articles are the fundamentals of that which is to be beleeved of a Christian but the fundamentals of that which is to be done of a Christian are the Commandements in the Law and in the Gospell Both which Fundamentals must be joyned together to make up the building of our salvation And this summe or Breviate of beliefe which wee call our Creede consists of two parts Personae Res First the Persons in whom wee must beleeve and then the things which we must beleeve The persons in whom to beleeve are three God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons and one God Blessed for ever The things which we are to beleeve are five of which the two first which are The holy Catholique Church and the Communion of Saints as they heere stand next to the Holy Ghost so most properly they relate to the Holy Ghost He being the fountaine of Sanctification of which these two are streames The next two which are the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Body seeme properly to referre to God the Sonne in whose merits as Man all sinnes are forgiven and by the power of whose Rising as God and man shall be our Resurrection And then the last which is the Life Everlasting most properly relates to God the Father He being the Author of Life In whom we al live move and have our being shal have our eternal being And this is the Coherence Personarum Rerū of the Persons in whom to beleeve and of the Things which we are to beleeve If wee should know in whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve we should want our lesson and if we should know what to beleeve and not know in whom to beleeve we should want our Teacher and therefore to make both perfect both are heere exprest and exprest so punctually that nothing can be added either to make it plainer or to make it fuller And heere it may not be amisse for the credit of our Creede before we goe further to shew that all the Articles of it are contained in the holy Scripture and to bring some place of Scripture for a Testimoniall of each of them that it may appeare wee ground not our Beliefe upon Quagmires of uncertainetie but that wee have firme ground to stand upon and it will be a worke not long in doing The first Article is the subject of the whole Bible all tending to make us beleeve in God The next Article is the subject of the whole Gospell all tending to
make us beleeve in Christ The next two Articles of Christs Conception and his Birth are declared by the Angell to Joseph Feare not Joseph to take Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a Sonne and thou shalt call his Name jesus Then the next Article of Christs suffering under Pontius Pilate is sufficiently testified in Pontius Pilate who gave sentence to have Barrabas released and Christ to be scourged and then his being Crucified Dead and Buryed are for more surety recorded with their circumstances That he was Crucified betweene two Theeves and when his Legges should have beene broken he was found to bee Dead before and then was Buried and laid in a Sepulchre where never man had been laid before by Joseph of Arimathea as all the Evangelists testifie But now the Article of Christs Descending into Hell makes us at a stand For none of all the Evangelists bring Christ any further then his Grave there they leave him and say not a word more of him till his Rising from the Dead that for any thing appeares yet this Article is like to be lost for want of a Testimoniall It may seeme indeed strange that this Article should be in the Creed and not bâ— found in the Gospel seeing thâ— Gospell seemes to bee the ground from which the Creed is taken Bâ—â— is it not that the ground of ouâ— Creed is not onely the Gospell buâ— all the whole Scripture For thâ— Gospell seemes to deliver no morâ— of Christ then what was visible and done in his body and least wee should bee doubtfull what became of his Soule when his body was dead therefore this Article Hee descended into Hell is added For wee may observe that in these Articles concerning Christ this word Hee personates three Estates as when it is said Hee was Crucified Dead and Buried here the Word Hee Intends but onely his Body as when it is said Hee Descended into Hell heere Hee intends but only his Soule and when it is said He rose againe from the Dead heere the word Hee intends both his Body and Soule together and so continues in all the Articles following He ascended into Heaven He sitteth at the right hand of his Father He shall come to Iudge the Quick and the Dead still the Word Hee intends both his Body and Soule together From whence wee may gather how it is like to be with us also that though our soules and bodies be parted for a time yet when in the Resurrection they once meet againe they shall never afterward be parted any more But though this Article seeme to have no ground in the Evangelists yet in the Apostles and Prophets it hath at lest the Prophet David long before had said in the person of Christ Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell by which it appeares that his soule was in Hell and theâ— what time so fit for the being thereâ— as while his Body was lying in the Grave and Saint Paul also seeme to say as much where hee saithâ— He Descended into the lowest parts of the Earth which must needes bee certainely a lower place then the Grave And so between the Prophet David and the Apostle Saint Paul we shall be able to make this Article a good Testimoniall having from the one the Place from the other the Motion David naming Hell and Saint Paul descending After the stop of this Article wee come againe into the Roade For the Article of Christs Rising from the Dead hath not onely the Voyces of all the Evangelists but it hath a clowde of Witnesses besides Saint Paul affirming that more then five hundred brethren at once saw him being Risen from the dead Then he next Articles whether two or one of his Ascending into heaven and sitting at the Right hand of God are in such manner testified by Saint Marke that the words of the Creed are but the very Transcript of his Text. Then the Article of Christs comming to Iudge the Quick and the Dead is Proclaimed as from Christ himselfe that it is Hee which was ordained of God to be Judge both of quicke and dead And then the Article of Beleeving in the Holy Ghost is made good by Christs last charge to his Apostles Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and in whose Name wee are Baptized in Him certainly we have just cause to beleeve But then the Article of beleeving the Holy Catholique Church makes us at a stand againe Foâ— what place of Holy Scripture caâ— bee brought for a Testimony oâ— Beleeving the Catholick Church wheâ— not so much as the word Catholickâ— is to be found in any place of Holy Scripture For though some Epistles of some Apostles be Inscribed Catholicke yet Inscription of Epistles is no part of the Scripture no more then part of the Epistles But is it not that though the word Catholicke be not directly exprest yet it may be directly inferr'd seeing many places of Scripture binde us to Beleeve the Church but no particular Church and therefore the Catholicke or Universall Church Then the Article of the Communion of Saints Is it not fully exprest by Saint Paul where hee saith There is one Body and one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Then for the Article of Remission of sinnes We have as many Testimonies of Scripture as there are words but it may bee Testimoniall enough which Saint Iohn giveth where he saith The bloud of Jesus Christ clenseth us from all our sinnes Then the Article of the Resurrection of the Body though it might passe under the Article of Christs Resurrection without any other Testimony For if Christ be risen from the Dead we also shall rise from the Dead Yet it hath a Testimony by it self where it is said God that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our mortall Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And lastly the Article of Everlasting Life is Testified by Saint John as it were in Red Letters where hee saith God so loveâ— the World that hee gave his onely bâ—gotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveâ— in him should not perish but have liâ—â— Everlasting And now having shewed that aâ— the Articles are contained in thâ— Scripture It remaines to shewâ— what it is they containe I Where first it may be demanded that as in saying the Lordâ— Prayer we say Our Father taking others along with us and not going our selves alone So in saying the Creede why we doe not as well say Wee Beleeve that so wee may not goe alone but take others along with us Is it not that Beliefe is Personall but Prayer belongs to the Communion of Saints Prayer proceeds from Charity and therefore is Communicative but Beliefe proceeds from Faith and â—erefore is reserved Another may â—ray for mee but another
perhaps that his Fasting and Watching and Scourging the night before had so exceedingly weakened him that he that could beare the burthen of our sinne yet could not heare the burthen of his Crosse but was faine to have Symon of Cyrene to beare it for him and therefore was little better then dead already Or if these were not enough to hasten his death was it not perhaps his own doing who had power to lay downe his life and to take it up againe at his pleasure and therefore dyed the sooner that it might be verified which was Prophesied There shall not a bone of him bee broken For if hee had not dyed when hee did his legges should have beene broken as the two Malefactors were to hasten their death that they might be dead before the Sabbath O deare Jesus what such haste was there for thy death who onely wert worthy never to dye but that by thy death thou hast given us life though all our lives were not worth the hastening it but that thy infinite love never thought it to be haste enough It is an olde Heresie of some that Christ himselfe was not Crucified but Symon of Cyrene in his stead but the Temple and the Sunne make this knowne to bee a Fable For would the Temple have rent in twaine Would the Sunne have beene darkened so long together for Symon of Cyrene No alas too true it is that Christ himselfe was Crucified and woe to us that true it is and yet more woe to us if it were not true but woe of all Woes that true it is in that for us and for our sinnes it was that he was Crucified O my Soule that thou couldst bee alwaies meditating upon this Crucifying of Christ Not that it could be any pleasure to thinke of his being Crucified but the better to make thee apprehend First the great causes of it thy own sinne and his love and then the great effect of it thy Everlasting Redemption for which thou canst never bee enough gratefull if thou bee never so little unmindefull Dead And now having Beleeved that Christ was Crucified our next Beliefe is that hee was Dead and yet how can we Beleeve that hee could Dye For is not Death the Wages of Sinne and could hee receive the Wages that had not done the Service Had committed no sinne But is it not that hee dyed not for any sinne he committed himselfe but for the sinnes of others which he tooke upon him Even as a Surety payes the Penaltie of a Debt that was none of his owne And this reason the Prophet Daniel gives where hee saith Messiah shall bee slaine not for himselfe but for his people to make reconciliation for their Iniquities and to bring in Everlasting Salvation And here appeares another reason why Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate For the same Prophet Daniel fore-sheweth That after seven weekes and threescore and two weekes from the going forth of the Commandem at to restore and build Hierâ—salem Messiah shall bee slaine Which being computed according to 〈◊〉 Prophets sense agreeth just with the time that Pontius Pilate was Governour in Judea And thus as in the Article before the Virgin Mary was justly mentioned to shew that Christ was the true Messiah by the circumstance of his Discent So in this Article Pontius Pilate is justly mentioned to shew that Christ is the true Messiah by the circumstance of the time And for whose sinne was it then that Christ dyed O my Soule this Question reflects upon thee for amongst others even for thine Thy sinnes were the cause that Christ was Crucified Thy sinnes the cause that Christ Dyed and Alas will be the cause to make him Dye continually if continued that if there bee any sparke of Grace if any life of the Spirit at all in thee thou wilt now at last dye to those sinnes that made him to Dye and every nayle that fastned him to his Crosse will bee a nayle to peirce thy heart But if wee Beleeve that Christ was Dead will wee fix our Beliefe upon a Dead man Can we hope for Life from him who was Dead himselfe Indeed therefore we hope for life from him because he was dead himselfe For if hee had not Dyed we could not have Lived seeing hee therefore Dyed that hee might Redeeme us from Death as it is said of him Thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud For though hee were now dead yet hee continued not dead long but after three dayes wee shall heare of his rising to life againe and then wee shall heare him say I am hee that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore But howsoever now dead he is and with him is dead all our joy and all our comfort but where is the Lamentation that is made for his death David when he heard Absolon was dead cryed out Oâ— Absolon my Sonne would to God I had dyed for thee my sonne Absolon but where is any now he heares Christ is dead that crieth out O deare Jesus would to God I had dyed for thee most deare Jesus And is it not a grievous thing that David should more lament the death of a wicked Sonne then we should lament the death of the Sonne of God and by whom we are made the Sonnes of God Is it not a shame that a Heathen should say of a Heathen In ignem posita est fletur and that we hearing Christ to be dead should not affoord him so much as a teare Alas it were well if we would floore him but the common office of Humanity to see him Buried but where are they should doe it His friends have all forsaken him Not an Apostle now that will be seen about him even Peter himself that had made such Protestations what great matters he would doe for his sake is slunke away and gone perhaps to looke after the Sheepe committed to his charge never regarding what became of the Shepherd and if it had not beene for one good man the blessed Joseph of Arimathea God knowes what Indignities they might have offered to his Sacred Body being dead who had so vilely abused it being alive But thou blessed Joseph hadst the bâ—lâ—â—esse to begge his Body of Pilate Thoâ— tookest it downe from the â—â—resse Thou wâ—ap'dst it Linnen Cloathes and laid'st it in a Sepulchre where never man was laid that as his Bodie at first came out of a Virgins Wombe so now at last it is laid in a Virgine Tombe thereby perhaps in mysterie to honour Virginity both in Life and Death And thou blessed Joseph for this thy pious Fact shalt live in the memories of men as long as there shall be memories in men and thy name shall bee had in everlasting remembrance It may be thought no great matter what becomes of the Body when the Soule is out of it For lay it where you will or lay it how you will it turnes to Dust and yet I know not how there seemes to
in regard of the Sonnes being Incarnate and taking our nature upon him For this indeed brings in many points to bee beleeved whereof considered onely as the second person in the Trinity there should be no need So as the two Natures in Christ must needs give cause to have more spoken of him then of the holy Ghost that hath but one nature The Doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost hath in all Ages beene most obscure so much that in some Churches it was some time before it was beleeved at all or so much as knowne whether there were a Holy Ghost or no even in these present times the Greeke Church a Church of great extent differs thus from us that where we beleeve the Holy Ghost to proceede from the Father and the Son that Church beleeves the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father by the Sonne a nice difference in so Incomprehensible a Mystery that there seemes no just cause to lay such Anathemaes as some doe upon that Church for so beleeving If wee should beleeve in the Father and in the Sonne and not beleeve in the Holy Ghost this beliefe would never be sanctified seeing the Holy Ghost onely is the Sanctifier and sanctifies none that beleeve not in him and the beliefe not being sanctified would never bee acceptable to the Father himselfe notwithstanding our beliefe in him And this perhaps was the cause why the Offering of Cain was not accepted because though a Sacrifice yet it wanted a devotion sanctified by the Holy Ghost There is a sinne which is properly called The sinne against the Holy Ghost and for them that commit this sinne we are forbidden to pray a grievous sinne no doubt which stops the current of Charity whose nature is wont to overflow al banks but what the sinne is and by what marks it may certainly be known though a Question much agitated is not yet so fully explicated but that it leaves scruples but whatsoever it is or may be we may be sure that the Not-beleeving in the Holy Ghost is one principall ingredient in it Or rather where a true beleeving in the Holy Ghost is this sinne properly can never bee committed And therefore in making profession of our Faith there is none of all the Articles in the whole Creed that seemes more necessary to be said then this For by saying this Article we make it appeare there can bee no danger in praying for us as not being likely to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost who beleeve in the Holy Ghost But why is it that sinnes committed against the Father or the Sonne shall bee forgiven but a sinne committed against the Holy Ghost shall never bee forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come Is it not that if a sinne bee committed against the Father or the Sonne the Holy Ghost being the Sanctifier can sanctifie that sinne and make it pardonable but if a sinne bee committed against the Holy Ghost there is none to sanctifie it and not being sanctified it justly exceeds all bounds of Remission O therefore thou blessed God the Holy Ghost Vouchsafe to endue me with a Spirit of sanctification that what other sinnes soever I may happily unhappily commit yet I may never be so unhappy to commit this dreadfull sinne of sinning against thee When we read the order of the Persons in the Trinitie the Father placed first the Sonne second the Holy Ghost last wee must not conceive it as though there were any Priority betweene them in time who are all Go-eternall or any disparity betweene them in dignitie who are all Consubstantiall but that it is an expressing of Order onely to our capacities seeing although they be Three Persons yet they are all but One God All but One in Substance though Three in Subsistence The Incomprehensiblenesse of which Mysterie though it exceed our capacities yet not our Beliefe Or therefore the fitter for beliefe because it exceeds our capacities And now having professed our Beliefe in God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost wee may justly conclude and say O Holy Blessed and glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon us miserable sinners And thus is finished the first part of our Creed In whom it is we Beleeve the other part remaines containing What it is we Beleeve For to know In whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve were to stand at a gaze and bee to seeke when wee come to our lesson Indeede the things wee beleeve have dependance upon the Persons in whom we beleeve and such dependance as without beleeving in those wee cannot truely beleeve these If wee did not beleeve in the Holy Ghost we could not beleeve the Holy Catholike Church nor the Communion of Saints for these are benefits that come by the Holy Ghost And if we did not beleeve in the Son of God Christ Jesus we could not beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes nor the Resurrection of the body for these are benefits that accrue unto us by the Sonne of God Christ Jesus And if we did not beleeve in God the Father we could not beleeve the life Everlasting seeing by him onely it is that we live and have our present being and shall have our eternall being And the first Article of this kinde is this I beleeve the holy Catholike Church I beleeve the Holy Catholike Church I beleeve it in deed but not in it as I doe in God For this is a Priviledge due onely to him and besides if I should beleeve in it I should beleeve partly in my selfe as being a Member of it but I beleeve there is a Holy Catholike Church Holy as in which are the Elect of God and Catholike as in which are of all Nations under heaven and this is not the Church of the Jewes for that Church though at some time it were Holy yet it was never Catholike as being bounded within Canaan but now as the Holy Ghost hath made the Church Holy by sanctifying it so Christ hath made it Catholike by enlarging it for at his comming at least at his going away he broke downe the Partition wall by his last Warrant to the Apostles Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost But though Christ set his Church at large yet not long after his time a Sect of Hereticks would needs restraine it againe For Donatus and his followers would perswade the world that as before the true Church was onely in Canaan so now the true Church was onely in Africa but by beleeving the Holy Catholike Church I now disclaime both these Churches the Church of the Jewes as not being Catholike and the Church of the Donatists as being neither Catholike nor Holy But what use is there of this Article May not a Christian man doe well enough and yet leave this Article out of his Creed Indeed there is not onely great use of it but even necessitie For
remedy and so between the little knowing of sinne and the little acknowledging of sinne the beliefe of this Article is in no little danger to be very little only Faith stands in the breach and supplies all defects and it is the worke of Faith and indeed of a great Faith that can truly say I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes There have been Hereticks of old who held this opinion that no fins should be forgiven that were committed after Baptisme and they grounded their opinion upon the saying of Saint Paul If wee sinne wilfully after we have received knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sinnes and grounding themselves upon this Text they would neither Baptise others nor be Baptized themselves till in their old age making account that Age having repulsed in them inordinate desires they might safely then bee Baptized without feare of committing any wilfull sinnes afterward But would any man beleeve that men of common sense could ever fall into so grosse an errour especially having heard it said At what time soever a sinner repenteth him of his sinnes I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. That we may see it is not time that prejudiceth Gods forgivenesse whether before Baptisme or after whether sooner or latter but come at any time and bring Repentance and God at no time will be wanting to Forgivenesse For as it is mercy in God which is the motive to us to Beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes so it is Repentance in us that is the motive to God to Forgive us our sinnes But why is the Forgivenes of sins put here inter Credenda amongst things to be Beleeved and not rather inter Agenda amongst things to be done seeing to Remission of sinnes there belongs Repentance a thing to bee done and without Repentance no forgivenesse Is it not that forgivenesse of sinnes is an effect of Faith and therefore justly placed amongst things to be Beleeved and though Repentance be necessary to come in the Recre yet Faith must lead the Vant-gaurd and have the Preceedence For if Faith goe not before Repentance will not follow indeed cannot follow seeing without Faith It is impossible to please God And now my soule observe the great extent of this Article it keeps mee from sinning against the Holy Ghost whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes by his inspiring it appeaseth the wrath of God the Father whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse in onely his mercy It glorifies his Sonne Christ Jesus whilst I beleeve Gods mercy through onely his Merits that seeing this Article is reguardant to all the Persons in the Trinity I may hope that by beleeving it all the Persons in the Trinity will be reguardant upon me and specially the Sonne For indeed this Article and the next that followes are two flowres I may say that grow upon the very Grave of Christ For as there is no Forgivenes of sinnes but onely by the vertue of his death so there is no Resurrection of the body but onely by the operation of his Rising from the Dead And thus farre wee are brought by this flower of Faith I beleeve the Forgivenes of sinnes The next is the flower of Hope The Resurrection of the Body by which wee Beleeve the Resurrection of the Body and it followes indeed very fitly for seeing the body dyed not at first but by reason of sinne what should hinder if sinne bee forgiven but that the bodie should rise againe and returne to life This indeed is a flower something hard of growing but 〈◊〉 growne sends forth a most 〈◊〉 savour and as of all the Articles in the Creed there is none more hard to be beleeved so once beleeved there is none that ministers greater comfort For what need I care though my body bee laid in the grave and bee turned to dust so long as I am sure and undoubtedly beleeve that hereafter it shall rise againe and bee in the same but a better state then now it is In the same for substance but in a better for quallities and endowments If there were no Resurrection of the body then neither the godly should have Reward in their Bodies nor the wicked Punished but seeing both the godly shall bee Rewarded in their Bodies and the wicked Punished therefore there shall bee a Resurrection of the Body This Article no doubt is hard to be beleeved For who would beleeve there should be Regressus a corruptione ad generationem a privatione ad habitum a going backe from Corruption to Generation from Privation to Habit a thing impossible in Nature and improbable in Reason yet this impossibility in Nature this improbality in Reason must be beleeved before wee can beleeve the Resurrection of the Body Who would beleeve that a Body consumed to dust and that dust scattered by the wind into a thousand places should ever be brought together againe to be the same body it was before who would believe that a Body devoured perhaps by wild beasts perhaps eaten by Fishes and by digestion become a part of those Beasts or Fishes should ever returne to be the Body of a man againe as it had beene before Indeed none would beleeve it that looked only upon the power of Nature as were ledde only with the light of Reason but when we looke upon a Power that is stronger then Nature and are led by a Light that is brighter then Reason what should hinder why we should not beleeve it Shall we not beleeve the Resurrection of the body because we know not by what wayes it shall bee raysed Is it not enough that we know the power of Gods wayes but that we must also know the waies of his Power Doe we know how the body at first is formed in the Mothers wombe and would we looke to know how it shall bee formed the second time in the wombe of the Earth Have wee professed by the first Article of our Creed that God is Almighty and will we not allow him to do the works of an Almighty Doe we beleeve that nothing is impossible for God to doe and yet thinke there is this thing which he cannot doe Looke upon the Corne when it is cast into the earth and after a few daies you shall see it to bee nothing but as a kind of corruption and yet of that corruption doth God make the same Corne to spring up againe and to bee as flourishing as it had beene before and if God doe this in the Corne shall hee not as well doe it in our bodies But it is not perhaps that wee doubt of his Power but of his Will seeing his Will is not alwaies to doe all hee can And can we doubt of his Will his Will so often revealed to us in his Word so firmely assured to us by his Word This is the Fathers Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given mee I should loose nothing but should raise it up againe at the